A strong pre-season crowd of over 25,000 were in attendance for the return of Stampeders football. The rain relented for the entire game and the Stampeders put on a drubbing that saw them dominate the Esks right from the kick-off. What made the Stamps so good? Well it's tough to judge the team when you have three different players subbing into the game for each position. However, you can still pick out two kinds of players easily: those who make big plays, and those who make dumb mistakes.
Starting with the offense. Akilli Smith started the game and played the entire first half generating some nice scoring drives. For the most part he looks like a relatively competent backup. What's more interesting is the battle for third string. Both Ryan Cubit and Barrick Nealy has strong showings manufacturing their own drives and runs when needed. Despite Nealy's one interception, both exhibited promise that should make cutting one difficult. Nealy has great feet and Cubit made a nice read on a blitz from a second and long situation. He found Copeland for a huge gain.
Apart from the QB battle the rest of the offense was up in the air. This isn't a bad thing, but many players stood out. For the receiver corps the primary target all night was Jermain Copeland who put in an excellent game. Wes Cates lead the running backs and is making a good case for himself; the offensive line was solid for most of the night.
Special teams was pretty regular. Keenan Howry (WR and returns) made a bone head play trying to run out a long punt from Pat Fleming to wind up on the 2. This is the CFL and unfortunately that play, limited returns, and size, may prove fatal for his chances to make the club.
The punting duel is one of the interesting battles on special teams. So far Burke Dales has an edge, marginally. He had one shank to O'Mahony's three. DeAngelis was his usual self and during the halftime was stroking field goals from the 55 with 10 yards to spare.
Defensively, again, nobody stood out as players rotated in. They evidently played solid limiting Edmonton to only one field goal. For most of the third quarter Edmonton stayed behind their own 35. The speed was good for the defense and they played as a unit.
All in all, a dominant effort by Calgary. I would have liked to see a better Edmonton team show up to test Calgary a bit more, but the win showed the caliber of players that's in this year's camp. Next up is Saskatchewan next week.
Notes: Notable players missing from the mix were Ryan Thelwell and JR Ruffin (who recently had knee work done). Scott Coe left the game in the second quarter. Brandon Guillory (EDM) was taken off in the ambulance late in the second quarter with a suspected back injury.
[tags]calgary stamps preseason, calgary stampeders preseason[/tags]
